(A) Members of the Police Department are hereby authorized to remove or have removed a vehicle from a street to the nearest garage or other place of safety (including another place on a street), or to a garage designated by the Police Department, or otherwise maintained by this city, when the following occur.
(1) The vehicle is parked on a part of a snow emergency route on which a parking prohibition is in effect.
(2) The vehicle is stalled on a part of a snow emergency route on which there is a covering of snow, sleet, or ice or on which there is a parking prohibition in effect and the person who was operating the vehicle or the owner thereof does not appear to be removing it in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.
(3) The vehicle is parked in violation of any parking ordinance or provision of law and is interfering or may interfere with snow removal operations.
(B) Whenever a police officer removes or has removed a vehicle from a street as authorized in this section and the police officer knows or is able to ascertain from the registration records in the vehicle the name and address of the owner thereof, the police officer shall immediately give or cause to be given notice in writing to the owner of the fact of the removal and the reasons therefor and of the place to which the vehicle has been removed. In the event any vehicle is stored in a public garage, a copy of this notice shall be given to the proprietor of the garage.
(C) Whenever a police officer removes or has removed a vehicle from a street under this section and does not know and is not able to ascertain the name of the owner, or for any other reason is unable to give the notice to the owner as herein provided, and in the event the vehicle is not returned to the owner within a period of three days, then and in that event the police officer shall immediately send or cause to be sent a written report of the removal by mail to the state department whose duty it is to register motor vehicles, and shall file a copy of this notice with the proprietor of any public garage in which the vehicle may be stored. This notice shall include a complete description of the vehicle, the date, time, and place from which removed, the reasons for the removal, and name of the garage or place where the vehicle is stored.
(D) No person shall recover any vehicle removed in accordance with this section except as provided herein. Before the owner or person in charge of the vehicle shall be allowed to recover it from the place where it has been placed or impounded, he shall present to a member of the Police Department evidence of his identity and right to possession of the vehicle, shall sign a receipt for its return, shall pay the cost of removal, not to exceed $25, and shall pay any cost of storage accrued, not to exceed $10 for the first day or portion thereof, and $8 for each additional day or portion thereof thereafter. Until paid, these charges constitute a lien on the vehicle which may be enforced in the same manner as a mechanic’s lien in accordance with the provisions of I.C. 32-8-31-1 to 32-8-31-7, both inclusive.
(E) It shall be the duty of the Police Department to keep a record of each vehicle removed in accordance with this section. The record shall include a description of the vehicle, its license number, the date and time of its removal, where it was removed from, its location, the name and addresses of its owner and last operator, if known, its final disposition, and the parking violation involved.
(F) This section shall be supplemental to any other provisions of law granting members of the Police Department authority to remove vehicles.
(Ord. 29-1978, passed 12-12-78) Penalty, see § 74.999